Airstrip One

So will it be Civil War?

I'm not really inclined to report much on Ukraine, despite my great interest in it, because what is often not said about these things is so obvious that even the media are noticing it. This is more than just an election it is a geopolitical struggle.

It should be noted that Russia being worried about Ukraine is much more justified than Russia being worried about East Germany. Firstly there's a shared border, secondly there's a large minority of nominally Orthodox Russian speakers within the state. The election results (and support) if anything does not seem to be about economic liberty, corruption or civil rights but about culture and so Yanukovich's supporters are not going to go away.

Before we start cheering the pro-Polish candidate we should think very carefully - do we really want another shared border with Russia under EU and NATO obligations?

NB Thanks to Bob Briant for highlighting an intriguing past link between Blunkett and the Russophiles.